| Electric KI 61 Part 3, click on any photo for larger image. |
| The KI61 was painted last night. The raw foam was sanded with 220 grit paper then vacuumed to be clean of dust. The paint was applied with a Badger single action airbrush running about 25 lbs of pressure. The base gray coat and dark blue are water based acrylics from a local craft supply store. They are called Delta Ceramcoat and go on very easily. The paint was thinned 50% to get good spray consistency. The weight as shown is under 5 ounces. |
| After painting all parts were covered with 3M clear "packaging" tape. This was done to protect the finish, strengthen the airframe, and make it somewhat more dent resistant. The tape added less than a half ounce to the airframe. The lower fuselage half has been glued to the wing and the top fuselage shell is shown along side it. With the two aileron servos installed and the elevator servo the total weight is about 5.5 ounces. |
| The top and bottom fuselage shells are mated in this photo. In use they will be held together with scotch tape which will have enough strength but be easy to remove. All the components were put on the scale to estimate total finished weight. Allowing for some "bloat" it looks like the plane will come in at 11 ounces. This will be at the high end of the acceptable range for wing loading but should perform very well. Next step - figure out where to put the receiver, battery and the connectors of motor to speed controller. Stay tuned we should get to those things tomorrow night. |